RESOURCES

At Meridian we strive to not only provide digital kiosks and signage of the highest quality, but also equip our customers with the most up-to-date, relevant information about the industry. These resources are compendium of our content and insights on all things kiosks and digital signage—highlighting how they are bringing about positive change, identifying best practices for successful deployment, and providing an inside look into the industry.

CASE STUDIES

Established in 1939 as a small neighborhood church, Park Cities Baptist Church has experienced tremendous growth over the past 80 years, and has welcomed more than 10,000 members. When looking to redesign their existing check-in solution, Park Cities turned to Meridian to develop a new and improved self-service check-in kiosk. Designed to create a secure check-in and check-out experience for parents dropping off their children, the kiosks allow parents to enter their information and print off three security stickers.

Situated in the mountains of Western North Carolina, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, Blowing Rock is home to just over 1,200 permanent residents. While their full-time population is slight, the town welcomes thousands of visitors and tourists from across the country every year. When looking for a way to engage visitors and locals alike, while also bridging the information gap that exists outside of weekday business hours, the Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority enlisted Meridian’s help to develop an interactive digital signage solution.

Innovare partnered with Meridian to design a kiosk solution that incorporates both digital signage and electronic device charging for cell phones, tablets, and computers. This solution was designed to build upon Innovare’s traditional digital signage offerings, which include branded murals and wall-mounted LCD panels.

Direct General Insurance partnered with Meridian to create a first-of-its-kind insurance kiosk. The unique kiosk solution has the capability to produce auto insurance quotations in under 60 seconds, and affords drivers the opportunity to walk away with a fully binding policy in under 5 minutes. In addition to producing quotes, the solution also enables drivers to maintain their existing Direct General policies, pay bills on their policies, and reinstate lapsed policies.

GoMoto simplifies the car-buying process by helping customers easily navigate the check-in process, current incentives, equipment, brochures and inventory via a kiosk-based solution. Download our case study to learn more about the problem, solution and results, and how Meridian + GoMoto are at the leading edge of the evolution of the automotive sales experience.

Clear Channel Airports (“CCA”) utilized Meridian to build a turn-key solution for interactive digital signage and advertising for installation at airports across the US and Canada. The solutions are fully ADA complaint and accessible to all individuals, regardless of visual impairments, hearing impairments or reach restrictions.

Opus Inspection partnered with Meridian to create emissions-testing kiosks. The robust outdoor solutions perform the same test technicians perform at full-service stations but do it at unattended, self-service kiosks, providing a new convenience for drivers.

IKEA partnered with Meridian to create an efficient application process for consumer credit. The self-service solution was built using the MzeroSoftware Suite and integrated with GE Consumer Credit. Download our case study to learn more about the problem, solution and results, and how Meridian and IKEA simplified credit application for consumers.

A National Marine Sanctuary is a federally designated area in U.S. oceans or Great Lakes waters that spotlights special places in the marine environment. For nearly 50 years, national marine sanctuaries have worked to protect those places. In consideration of that tremendous responsibility, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries wanted to use those centers to bring the sanctuaries to life for its visitors. So in 2006, as part of an effort to increase its education and outreach offerings, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries embarked on a project to deploy interactive touchscreen kiosks in its visitor centers.

The American Heart Association partnered with Meridian to create a kid-friendly user experience for the Halle Heart Children’s Museum. The kiosks guide museum visitors through an educational video tour. Download our case study to learn more about the problem, solution and results, and how Meridian and the AHA created an engaging museum experience for visitors of all ages.

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS + WHITE PAPERS

Smart lockers are smart business. Before spring 2020 and the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, the storage solutions had become popular options for consumers seeking added convenience and increased access to purchases. Amid widespread shutdowns, and social distancing mandates over the last year, those solutions have become necessities to keep many businesses going.

Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses and organizations have been forced to completely rethink the processes involved in their daily operations. In light of the unique situation, Meridian, a self-service solutions industry leader, added temperature screening kiosks to their product lineup to help aid in the safe reopening of schools, healthcare facilities, offices, and more. Despite the urgency of the situation, it was imperative that the temperature screening kiosk was fully developed, vetted, and tested prior to its launch into the market.

Self-service kiosks, a number of which have mushroomed near service counters at eateries across the country in recent years, are now becoming commonplace in drive-thru’s as opportunities for businesses to usher in added efficiencies and to give customers greater control of their ordering experience.

For those new to the kiosk industry, and even for some self-service veterans, keeping up with all of the terms, phrases, and use cases can be extremely confusing. That’s why we’ve gathered the most commonly used words, phrases, and acronyms in the self-service industry and defined them for you in one place, which we have dubbed the kiosk dictionary.

Departments of Motor Vehicles used to be marred by lengthy lines and extended wait times. However, several states across the country have now enlisted kiosks to help address operational hurdles and keep patrons moving along. Once considered nice-to-haves, kiosks these days are considered necessities, sitting at the forefront of many business models as a means for incorporating efficiencies and for catering to demands for customer convenience. What makes the machines so desirable is that they generally are cost-effective, reliable, can be accessible 24 hours a day and enable users to conduct business through self-service.

While it’s relatively standard for travelers to conduct some research before jetting off to their destination, visitors still often seek out information, guidance, directions, and more once they arrive at their destination.  Designed to enhance and serve as an extension of more traditional visitor resources, like visitor bureaus and welcome centers, interactive digital signage solutions serve as an unattended hub of information, that can be made available to visitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

While indoor and outdoor kiosks are designed to fill a variety of the same roles—from information sharing to ticketing, bill payment, interactive digital signage, food ordering, and more—they aren’t all created equal. From quality to durability, componentry, security, and resistance to extreme weather, there are numerous factors one should consider prior to making the decision to install an outdoor kiosk or selecting a kiosk manufacturer to help them do so.

While modern day touch technology is associated with some of the most high-tech and cutting edge innovations, it’s roots began just as humbly as those of the internet and other great technological innovations. The growth and transformation of touch technology has been a slow progression, but over time it has continued—and shows no signs of plateauing anytime soon. In fact, the 2019 Kiosk Marketplace Census cited touchscreens as the most promising technology among self-service solution hardware.

All sorts of businesses are benefiting from the incorporation of kiosk technology in their operations, and educational institutions are no different. The tasks that once required students to spend a good part of their day waiting in line to accomplish can now be taken care of in a few minutes at an interactive kiosk. And as the capabilities of those interactive kiosks expand, it’s a sure bet that those institutions will find new and innovative uses for those devices.

As self-service technology has continued to develop and evolve over the years, so has its demand and the ways in which it’s produced. As this transition has occurred, some manufacturers have opted to forego quality in order to increase their output quantity. What many forget or fail to understand, however, is that the two—quality and quantity—do not have to be mutually exclusive. Similarly, in an environment focused on quantity, having a quality-focused mindset can actually be a key differentiator for those looking to purchase and incorporate self-service solutions. Here are some parameters to consider to ensure that you receive a long-lasting, high-quality solution while in the market for your next self-service solution.

Interactive digital signage and kiosks are being adopted across numerous industries at an impressive rate. Despite the industry’s incredible growth rate, some companies and end-users still express skepticism toward the technology—much of which is largely attributable to misinformation and misconceptions. Some of these misconceptions harp on the ideas that kiosks take away jobs, they’re difficult to use, too expensive, or irrelevant to a specific business or industry.

As brick-and-mortar retailers struggle to remain relevant in the age of online shopping, and online retailers seek to incorporate more and more of the brick-and-mortar experience, the two concepts are merging into a new form of retailing—automated lockers. Rather than waiting for a delivery, shoppers can pick their orders up from an automated locker at the retail store or other location, often within hours of making the purchase.

While many interactive kiosk providers are able to outsource specific phases of the manufacturing process, a true kiosk manufacturer can provide in-house manufacturing beginning with design thinking all the way through installation.

The increasing popularity of electric vehicles combined with the corresponding need for EV charging stations has created a host of new opportunities for digital signage placement, with those opportunities only expected to expand as the sales of electric vehicles gains steam.

Advances in bill payment technology and security, and increasing demand for efficient solutions make bill payment kiosk applications a popular solution for all industries. Here are the five most popular bill payment kiosk applications we’re currently seeing throughout the self-service industry.

Businesses and organizations are leveraging touchscreen technology to provide interactive building directories to help visitors locate their destination. The interactive directory kiosks provide users with engaging information and make it easier than ever before to navigate buildings and campuses.

Businesses are turning to bill payment kiosks to enhance customer experience through self-service payment. Bill pay kiosks offer customers a secure transactional solution and provide businesses with a new way to improve customer service.

Self-service solutions have introduced a new way to provide audiences with engaging information. From retail to healthcare, numerous industries are starting to leverage the many benefits of kiosks and digital signage.

For kiosks deployers, it’s not enough to simply place a kiosk and hope for the best. To get the maximum benefit and the quickest ROI, it’s important to know what works and what doesn’t. Analytics can help accomplish that.

As individuals continue to utilize mobile devices as their primary source of information, they increasingly expect instant access to information as the sight (or touch) of a screen.